Kazan Church in Novaya Maina: how a merchant’s house became a templetranslated

Sunday morning. Parishioners are slowly gathering in the church. Before the Liturgy, a prayer service is served. It seems that the church has always stood here, in the village of Novaya Maina, Ulyanovsk region, but this is not so.

Reliable information about the name and location of the temple that existed in the village before the revolution has not been preserved. The modern temple in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God is located in a house that belonged to the merchant Lepeshkin. The building was built in 1895. During the years of Soviet power, a school and then a hospital were located here. In 1992, the merchant's house was written off from the balance sheet of the village, and two years later it was transferred to the disposal of the parish council. The temple was restored by the whole world: the residents themselves broke down the walls, removed garbage, painted and whitewashed the walls. When the craftsmen came to work, they couldn’t even put the plaster on the walls, everything was so worn out. Construction work has been carried out since 1994. The first step was to re-install the roof and floor. At the next stage, the most important part of the church—the altar—was built, the iconostasis was installed, and icons and church utensils were purchased. Then the bell tower was erected.

On April 28, 1996, the temple was consecrated by Bishop Proclus of Ulyanovsk and Melekess. Since that time, for thirty years now, things have been happening here...